The safe disposal of medical waste presents a significant problem. Typically, in a hospital or medical facility, medical waste such as hypodermic needles, sharps collection devices, medical gowns, patient drapes, surgical drapes, Mayo stand covers, gauze, wound dressings, and other soiled articles must be disposed of safely. Untreated medical waste must be disposed of as hazardous waste, which is costly and burdensome. As a result of infectious diseases such as AIDS and other deadly diseases, the waste must be disposed of in hazardous waste sites. Oftentimes, the waste must be tracked and recorded also. Furthermore, the number of hazardous waste sites is limited and the capacity of such hazardous waste sites is continuously dwindling. Thus, there is a need for an improved method and apparatus for disposing of medical hazardous waste.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,046,669 and 4,905,916 disclose syringe disposal apparatuses. In one embodiment, the apparatus collects used syringes, grinds up the syringes, and melts the syringes into a solid puck of plastic, wherein the needles are encapsulated therein. However, such an apparatus is limited to syringes and other small objects and thus there is a need for an apparatus to accept all forms of industrial waste including medical waste.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,271 relates to a collection device for medical gowns and other soft goods. However, this patent does not address the need to convert the waste material from a hazardous form to a non-hazardous form. Thus, there is a need for an apparatus to collect all forms of medical waste and convert the medical waste to a safe form which may be disposed of readily and easily.